Treasures II

Ha! Cleaning the bookshelf had me browsing through old editions of Reader’s Digest and making my eyes hurt from reading one edition after another. Yes yes, I’m a geeky bookworm but what can I do? Reader’s Digest is considered one of the best reading materials there is and information found in it can be considered timeless archives of history and knowledge for everyone to read once in a while.

Below are “Quotable Quotes” I found from two editions of the said magazine. I just had to place them here since they are too good not to share.

Fear of failure is what fuels me, keeps me on edge and sharp. I’m not as good when I’m comfortable. ~ Alex Rodriguez

There’s nothing like biting off more than you can chew, and then chewing it anyway. ~ Max Burnett on “Dateline”

I don’t name plans, because life is short and unpredictable – much like the weather! ~ Al Roker in BJ’s Journal

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. ~ Ferris Bueller in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time. ~ Mitch Albom

Ask friends about the people and places that shaped them, and summer springs up quickly when they tell their story: their first kiss, first beer, first job that changed everything. ~ Nancy Gibbs in Time

I don’t believe in start. Except the ones you can look up and see. ~ Loretta Lynn

In a just and generous society you don’t have to be rich to achieve your potential. ~ Barack Obama

The grass may be greener on the other side, but it’s just as hard to cut. ~ Little Richard

It was while making newspaper deliveries, trying to miss out the bushes and hit the porch, that I first learned the importance of accuracy in journalism. ~ Charles Osgood

For marraige to be a success, every woman and every man whoul have her and his own bathroom. The end. ~ Catherine Zeta-Jones in InStyle

Food, love, mother and career: thhe four basic guilt groups. ~ Cathy Guisewite

Outcomes rarely turn on grand gestures or the art of the deaf, but on whether you’ve sent someone a thank-you note. ~ Bernie Brillstein, The Little Stuff Matters Most

Therer’s more to boxing than hitting. There’s not getting hit, for instance. ~ George Foreman in Guideposts

The greatest dreams are always unrealistic. ~ Will Smith in Parade

Do you remember other Reader’s Digest “Quotable Quotets”? If you do, do share!

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Treasure

I think it is my being an OC (obsessive and compulsive) individual that I was able to unearth this printed inspirational letter from multitudes of unorganized books, folders, files and other paper debris from our bookshelf. If my memory serves me right, this came from a close friend back in high school during our recollection days in Don Bosco Retreat House in Batangas. I did not understand the concept back then but I held on to the words of wisdom printed on the page even if I was hesitant to believe that ‘love’ may happen to me.

Now that I am in a fairly new relationship (and my first one at that), I guess it is just not coincidence that I found this again. Truth be told, I am a baby in these things and I had to rely and trust my boyfriend on how things go in a relationship since he had some experience before. Yes, I am sometimes giddy with happiness but I honestly am scared sometimes. I just had to rely a lot on my instinct to do what I think is right.

But surely, somehow, I sense the wisdom and the reality of the words, and I am getting a bit more of understanding for ‘love’ as what it truly brings.

I am not religious and yes, I am quite cynical. Yet, I don’t think it’s bad to see the world positively once in a while. I get it now, where some happiness can come from. I do hope so it continues.

I hope with this letter, others would also benefit from it.

Understanding love

Somebody once told me that “Finding the right person is very hard and very wrong… It is best to be the right person for the one you love and start from there… you’ll always end up disappointed when you set standards and define a ‘right person’ for you… and don’t rush things… coz somewhere somehow GOD is preparing sombody for you.” You can never be perfect… the person you love can never be perfect… but both of you can be perfect through love and prayers, and your love can be perfect through the both of you.

But no relationship is complete without God… that’s why we have marriage. It’s a bond that not only exists between you and your loved one… but also with God. Our relationship fail not because s/he’s not the right person… it’s because we expected too much and we decided on our own… let God do the work… you may call it waiting time… but while you are waiting… pray. Let God guide you always. He knows better. No, he knows best. Love is not what you think it is. Sometimes we mistakenly feel that our first relationship will be the last. Because we are overwhelmed with joy and romance, we forget to learn the meaning of true love. Some are saying that love is unselfish, blind, unconditional or simply denying oneself for the sake of someone very important in our life. Others are saying love is immortal and can never be defined.

When we think we’re in love the first we thing we almost wanted the whole world to know is that our love for someone very special can never be taken away from us. We say this phrase “You are the most wonderful gift from God I have ever received…” After a terrible fight or sometimes even a petty quarrel we then say “You are the biggest mistake I’ve ever made for my entire life!!!” Now, how do you say and spell the world L-O-V-E? Are you really deeply into it.?

Nobody can tell what love really is until experience speaks and whispers right into our ears. Most of the time, these love promises like “Forever, till death do us part, etc.” would end up. “Never” and “We should part ways, I’m no longer happy with you! My love for you is DEAD!!!”. Many times we thought after we committed to someone and your trust to one another freezes down to zero degrees “S/he ain’t the right one. I should probably wait for the right one to come”. But the big question anyone could not answer is “Is s/he the right one?” and “When is the right time?” That made us stick to whom we are with. Will you always be waiting for the right person to come and the right time to commit. A big YES is the answer.

Don’t be in a hurry to get into a relationship because you can never find love if you insist that you are already into it. Try to find time to really understand your feelings, to know who you really are, and what you really want in a relationship. You’re right, there is no such thing as a perfect relationship, but there’s a compatible partnership that goes along with it. If you already knew that you’re too big to fit into a small sized T-shirt, don’t give it a try. You’ll probably break it and pay for the damages you have made. If you knew and felt that the relationship will not last, don’t go deeper into it. You’ll just suffer the consequences and live like hell for the rest of your life. It’s really hard to say goodbye but you can’t make it better by just pretending.

Take the chance to live life to the fullest. Give yourself a chance to grow and give your heart a much needed attention. Then you will find that you have the right decision and you made it all by yourself.

More frequently than not, we all act in a hypocritical manner for some reason. We call it love when we can’t leave someone and see them crying as we try to let go. We are wrong, it’s just pity. We call it love when we’re too attached and think that losing the one we love will somehow make us weak and unable to face the storms of life. We misunderstood, it’s just we’re too much dependent on them. We call it love when we give our whole life to them, the wholeness of us imagined that if they leave no one would accept us and our past. We are mistaken, it’s just insecurity. But no matter what the definition is, the truth still remains that Love isn’t something you can buy nor beg. It is real and existing. You can’t touch it but you can feel it in your heart. You can’t find it, but it will knock before you when you least expect it to come. It can make you the happiest soul in heaven, but don’t forget that it also can make you the most miserable person in the whole galaxy.

You’ve understand the real meaning of Love when you find yourself in Love with God, with yourself and with other around.

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What’s Your Japanese Subculture?

You Are a Schoolgirl!

You’re not quite as wild as a “kogyaru”, but with your short plaid skirt and silly white socks, you’re still a sexual fetish object. You can usually be seen hanging out in the girly section of the video game places, collecting photobooth stickers of you and your friends. You may not be as innocent as you look. Did those vending machine panties once belong to you?

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Eldest Curse

I wonder if people similar to my situation ever wished they were in another family, born in another body, lived in a different familial position to what they are in. I bet, a lot would say yes once I reveal just what kind of predicament I am talking about.

Life of the Eldest Child

I have heard stories from others how annoyed they are at their eldest siblings for being bossy, snobbish, power tripping, etc. I am not defending all eldest children as not all eldest are not similar or in the same situations to account their behaviours. But I would like to make it known to others the pressure of this specific familial status to the individual, in ALL aspects of life, to make others understand them better.

Before I start, I would like to clarify… Yes, I AM an eldest child. Mind you, I am not writing this to defend my status or my situation. I’m friends with people in the same position as me and I can’t help but be awed by the similarities of life and tribulations we undergo, at most part, AUTOMATICALLY rendered by the status. True, this may look like a listing of rants. You may look at it that way if you want to. On my end, I am honestly listing all I have underwent and heard regarding the gifts and curse of being the eldest.

You are pretty lucky if you and your sibling/s were born not too long after each other. You would be taken care of together by your parents or other relatives and wouldn’t be given the immediate responsibility of overlooking the rest of the brood. Eventually though, as you grow older, the elders will impose on the eldest child the neccessary responsibiliy of being the role model, the guardian or the younger ones, the babysitter over the litter. Worse part of the deal is, the mistakes of the younger child will automatically translate to the eldest. If the younger sibling painted drawings on the wall, spilled some paint on the carpet, ate a non-edible substance out of curiousity, the eldest child will have the burn of anger from the elders. He or she will be blamed for not looking after the younger ones well enough. He or she could be punished for it even if he or she did the job well, and only turned his or her back for second to finish a job or chore that was entitled to him or her.

To the eldest children out there, doesn’t this sound familiar?

Of course, once everyone grows and are able to stand at their own two feet, such concept wouldn’t apply anymore. I am telling this scenario as what happens while growing up, to make everyone understand why eldest children could be bossy or annoying or kill joys. There is a reason behind it. The nature of responsibiliy confuses them sometimes as they want to be children themselves.

I have heard rants from the ‘younger sibling’ group how their eldest sibs gets to make them do more responsibilities (chores, errands, etc.) than what is required or perhaps needed against their ‘busy’ scheadules. I have a friend who once ranted out how her siblings leave all the house chores to her at most times since they knew that she was used to them, as she was the eldest and she had been doing the chores longer than everyone else and that she was used to them.

That is not the point.

The point is, she had been doing the work for quite some time for EVERYONE. It is a form of help, to both parents and siblings. To do the household chores is of course, automatically given to the one capable of doing them. Just because the eldest child can do everything more efficiently than the younger ones does not mean they will do it forever. So the younger ones have no excuse to rant about excess chores, even if there are maids to do it. Maids are there to help, not to be slaves (as most people would think). If the family is rich and can afford to hire a number of maids, that is another story.

The worst part of being the eldest is probably the ‘high expectations’ parents expect from them. They have to be responsible, efficient, swift, smart… Everything positive outlook they could think of. Also, when something bad happens to the family (I hope not, knock on wood), or a great argument happens between parents, the eldest gets the brunt of responsibility and pressure to somehow set things right. The eldest child has to be in between things, and try to remedy the situation as much as he or she can for the good of all, at most times sacrificing what he or she wants just to get the right things done. If sacrifices had to be made, the eldest will have to take the load first and if possible, take the whole of it so as to spare his or her siblings.

Call it a challenge or an immediate curse package for a first born. Being the eldest may have its privileges but it is accompanied with so much more than the perceived power-tripping status. Others wouldn’t easily know the tribulations emotionally brought about by these kind of pressures. It could break them, when pushed too far.

Yes, this post may be a rant but I bet a lot of ‘eldest child’ people out there know EXACTLY what I am saying.

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